Rwanda will face Nigeria in the opening game of the forthcoming International Cricket Council U-19 Africa World Cup qualifiers slated from September 1-13 in Botswana. The pair is pooled in Group A alongside Tanzania, Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique, while Group B consists of Women’s teams from hosts Botswana, Sierra Leone, Namibia and Uganda. The top two teams in each group at the end of the single round-robin group stage format will advance to the semifinals slated for September 10. The format indicates that the winner of Group A will face Group B runner-up while Group A runner-up will go up against Group B winner. Head coach Leonard Nhamburo last week dropped four players in his squad to reduce it to 16. He is now putting the team through their paces in daily training sessions held at Gahanga Cricket Stadium before he announces his final 14-woman squad that will travel to Botswana for the two-week U-19 World Cup Africa qualifiers. The team will depart for Botswana on August 31, just a day from the tournament kick off. After the Nigeria opener on September 3, Rwanda will play their second group game against Malawi on September 6 before facing Mozambique in match day three the following day. They will close the group stages with a clash against Tanzania on September 9. The semifinals will be played on September 11 while the 3rd/ 4th ranking match and the final of the qualifiers will take place on September 12 in a match that will decide who will book a ticket to the ICC U19 World Cup. The nine-nation qualifier will see the winner of the tournament advance to the main event in 2023 in South Africa. The Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) have partnered with Pitchvision (Sports Technology Firm) to live broadcast all the matches in the qualifiers for global viewership, which is a great initiative to showcase the young talent in the African region. The U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup event will be a 16-team affair with 11 full member nations – Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. Out of the five remaining spots, four will be determined by regional Qualifiers, while the fifth spot has been automatically awarded to the United States on account of the side being the only Associate nation eligible to compete under the ICC’s Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region.
